Devices for carrying tools are well known in the prior art. Many such devices are in the form of tool belts of various configurations which are designed to carry and retain one or more desired tools while allowing the user to keep his hands free. Conventional tool belts are provided with leather or cloth loops which depend from the belt and which serve as tool retainers. Although useful to some extent, such tool belts present inherent deficiencies which limit their usefulness. For example because cloth is not necessarily a rigid structure, cloth loops may close when not in use, making it difficult for the user to replace the tool into the loop with one hand. More over, a loop may tightly constrict about the tool handle as the tool settles into position, thereby making it difficult to remove the tool when needed. Similar problems arise with the use of the more rigid leather loops.
Another type of device for carrying tools is a belt clip which is modified with a tool carrying end. Examples of such belt clips include U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,451 to Kahn, issued Apr. 28, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,449 to Kahn, issued May 16, 2000 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,342 to Kahn, issued Sep. 3, 2002. These belt clips, all invented by the inventor of the instant application, are provided with a U-shaped hook which swivels about a tool's center of gravity. While these tool-toting devices have achieved commercial success, a disadvantage to these devices is that they cannot be removably secured to all types of tools. In addition, these tool-toting devices are not adapted easily for suspension from a wall, ladder or other object.
Article holders, particularly paint can holders, have been developed for attachment to the leg of a ladder. U.S. Pat. No. 3,131,900 to Anderson et al., issued May 5, 1964, U.S. Pat. No. 3,239,181 Ellerbrock, issued Mar. 8, 1966, U.S. Pat. No. 3,246,867 to Ewing, issued Apr. 19, 1966, U.S. Pat. No. 4,025,016 to Brothers, issued May 24, 1977, U.S. Pat. No. 4,036,463 to Hopkins et al., issued Jul. 19, 1977 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,338,459 to Biggs, issued Jan. 15, 2002, each discloses a clamping member adapted to secure an article, usually a paint can, to the stile of a ladder. However, none of the clamping members described in these patents are capable of securely engaging a tool and suspending the thus-engaged tool from a ladder.
Devices also have been developed to secure an article, particularly a paint can, to the hollow rung of a ladder, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,223,369 to Benninger, Jr., issued Dec. 14, 1965, U.S. Pat. No. 4,186,903 to Fazakerley, issued Feb. 5, 1980, U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,594 to Dubis, issued May 5, 1987 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,254,045 to Oatsvall, issued Jul. 3, 2001.
Despite the advances of the prior art, a need still exists for a universal tool holder which can be removably attached about the handle of most any tool and which, through the utilization of a unique retaining receiver, can be removably secured to a belt clip, wall, ladder or other article. Such a universal too holder should be capable of being easily and firmly attached about the handle of most any tool. Moreover, such a universal tool holder should be capable of being easily and removably secured within a retaining receiver. In addition, the retaining receiver should be capable of being incorporated into a wide variety of mounting implements. Also, mounting implements having such a retaining receiver should be quickly and easily secured to both conventional hollow rung ladders and standard A-frame ladders. Further, such a universal tool holder and retaining receiver should be inexpensive to manufacture and easy to use.